Originally referred to as the United Nations Intelligence Taskforce, executive producer Russell T Davies claimed in 2005 that the UN were no longer happy to be associated with the fictional organisation and the UN's full name could now no longer be used. However, the "UNIT" and "UN" abbreviations could be used as long as it was not explained what the letters stood for.[2] In 2008, he announced that the organisation's name had been changed to the Unified Intelligence Taskforce.[3] This new name was first mentioned on-screen in "The Sontaran Stratagem", also in 2008, in which it was indicated in a line of dialogue that the United Nations still supports UNIT with funding.[4]

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In a 2014 interview with Doctor Who Magazine, script editor Terrance Dicks recalled that he was present at the "birth" of UNIT during the production of the Doctor Who serial The Invasion (1968). He credited both scriptwriter and script editor Derrick Sherwin and producer Peter Bryant as having come up with the idea beforehand, claiming that they were testing the concept in The Invasion before it had become central to the show in the Doctor Who serial Spearhead from Space (1970).[5] In a series of interviews originally recorded for the 2006 DVD of the Doctor Who serial Inferno (1970), actor Nicholas Courtney, who played Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart in The Invasion, similarly described The Invasion as a "dummy run" for the idea of the Doctor, the main protagonist of Doctor Who, being exiled to Earth. Dicks also said that the idea of exiling the Doctor was done because making every serial take place on Earth was cheaper to produce than if every serial had to have a new alien planet built, and that UNIT was an idea Sherwin had come up with to answer the question of what to do with the Doctor after he was exiled to Earth.[6] Speaking in an interview on the 2012 DVD of the Doctor Who serial The Krotons (1968–69), Sherwin said that he wanted Doctor Who to be "down on Earth anyway, for credibility", and described UNIT as "the ideal vehicle" for this.[7]

In another 2014 interview in Doctor Who Magazine, Sherwin recalled that after submitting his scripts for The Invasion to Bryant, which included UNIT, Sherwin, who was also working freelance as a script editor, was told by Bryant to introduce his UNIT idea earlier, as it could "take some of the weight off [the] shoulders" of actor Patrick Troughton, who played the Doctor.[8] Speaking in an interview on the 2011 special edition DVD of Spearhead from Space, Sherwin claimed that he had created UNIT because he wanted to give some "considerable support" to the Doctor, "so that [Troughton] didn't have so many damn lines to learn each week".[9]

Sherwin told Doctor Who Magazine in 2014 that while working as script editor on the Doctor Who serial The Web of Fear (1968), which also involved an army, he told scriptwriters Mervyn Haisman and Henry Lincoln to include all of the characters that he had originally invented for The Invasion. Sherwin was uncertain if the army forces featured in The Web of Fear appeared as UNIT, but was "convinced" that, as a teaser for UNIT's more substantial role in The Invasion, The Web of Fear was supposed to have replaced the basic army forces that were seen in the story.[8] Sherwin asserted that he held the copyright on Lethbridge-Stewart, as he "created him in The Invasion".[10] However, previously in an interview recorded for the 2006 DVD of Inferno, Sherwin described The Invasion as the start of UNIT and the beginning of the Doctor "coming down to Earth".[6] On top of this, production notes in Doctor Who: The Complete History credit Haisman and Lincoln as the owners of Lethbridge-Stewart, who was the army leader from The Web of Fear, and mention how Bryant and director Douglas Camfield were negotiating the use of the character for The Invasion from Haisman and Lincoln in May 1968,[11] subsequent to The Web of Fear being broadcast in February and March.[12]The Web of Fear is also described in the notes as being a "major influence on The Invasion".[13]

UNIT continued to feature in Doctor Who after Spearhead, but when the Third Doctor's exile is lifted in The Three Doctors (1972–73),[17] his association with UNIT becomes more sporadic, especially after his regeneration into his fourth incarnation at the end of Planet of the Spiders (1974).[18] The last appearance of UNIT in the series for many years was in The Seeds of Doom (1976);[19] however, the organisation continues to execute its mandate to investigate and combat alien activity. The final appearance of UNIT during the original run of Doctor Who was the Seventh Doctor serial, Battlefield (1989).[20]

From "The Power of Three" (2012), the first on screen appearance of UNIT in any Whoniverse media since the two-part Doctor Who special The End of Time in 2009–2010, UNIT has been shown to have been reorganised by Kate Stewart, the Brigadier's daughter.[26]

UNIT's status is supported by enabling legislation that allows it to assume emergency powers when necessary.[27] Although it operates under the authority of the United Nations, its members are seconded from the host country's military and are still bound to obey that chain of command.[16] Ranks, within the UK section of UNIT at least, thus mirror those in the British Army — Lethbridge-Stewart is a Brigadier,[15] Yates is a Captain,[28] a Major appears in "The Christmas Invasion" (2005),[23] and a Colonel and Captain appear in "The Sontaran Stratagem"/"The Poison Sky" (2008).[4][29] UNIT personnel are seconded from the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force, and are still bound by the UK chain of command, and the commander reports to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Defence through Department C-19.[citation needed] However, if the commander feels it appropriate and necessary, the commander can request that Geneva overrule the national government.[citation needed] Lethbridge-Stewart, for example, reports to the Ministry of Defence and the Prime Minister,[citation needed] and Major Blake reports to the Prime Minister in "The Christmas Invasion".[23] UNIT is able to call on the conventional military branches for support, such as the RAF for precision air-strikes.[citation needed] Due to the international nature of the organisation, it is sometimes viewed with suspicion by local military and national security agencies, who feel that it might impinge on their sovereignty.[30] UNIT's existence is known to the public, but mainly as a security organisation with scientific expertise;[17] its actual agenda is classified, some believing it to be some kind of covert counter-terrorist unit.[citation needed] Although the Brigadier originally states that UNIT do not arrest people,[31] as of the 21st century, UNIT has the authority to detain persons indefinitely without trial, appeal, outside contact or legal representation, as experienced by Toshiko Sato before she was recruited to work for the British government by the Torchwood Institute in a flashback in the Torchwood episode "Fragments" (2008).[32] The organisation was rearranged by Kate Stewart, the daughter of Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. In "The Power of Three" (2012), Kate heads UNIT's scientific research department, which now has authority over the military branch.[26]

UNIT's personnel have a wide range of weaponry to call on, some custom-made to combat specific threats. Among these are special ammunition described by the Brigadier in Battlefield as armour-piercing rounds with a solid core and Teflon coating which "could go through a Dalek".[20] Other munitions include explosiverounds for Yetis, other armour-piercing rounds for robots, and gold-tipped rounds for use against the Cybermen (as well as silver bullets as suggested by the Doctor),[20] and rad-steel coated bullets to neutralise Sontaran anti-bullet fields that target copper.[29]

In "The Christmas Invasion", UNIT is shown to have translation software which can decipher alien languages with great accuracy. The software, or at least the results from the translation, can be loaded on a hand-held device.[23]

In "The Poison Sky", UNIT is shown to be able to command and co-ordinate the world's combined nuclear arsenal for strategic strikes on orbiting alien craft.[29]

In "The Power of Three", UNIT is shown to have a scientific research department with a large laboratory in the base beneath the Tower of London. During the story, the laboratory is dedicated to studying cubes that appeared out of nowhere. Kate Stewart, daughter of the Brigadier and head of the scientific research department, has a handheld device that can scan a body (picking up the Eleventh Doctor's twin hearts), and also serves as a communication device. The computers at UNIT HQ can detect anomalies such as artron energy spikes, and can also access CCTV on the streets. There is also mention of them using helicopters and tanks while testing the destructibility of the cubes.[26]

"The Day of the Doctor" (2013) shows that the Tower of London base contains the Black Archive housing various alien technological devices that UNIT has salvaged over the years and kept hidden away. Protected by various alien defences that erase the memories of visitors to ensure that they cannot reveal what is inside the Archive, the Archive is also 'TARDIS-proof', and has been used by UNIT as a means of assessing the Doctor's companions to confirm whether they can be trusted. UNIT is also shown to at least have access to the Under-Gallery, a secret gallery containing works of art dating back to the Elizabethan era that Elizabeth I ordered locked away as they were too dangerous for the public.[1]

Across the eras, UNIT have been identified with different styles of uniform.

For The Invasion, Privates and Corporals wore No.7 dress, while ranks of Sergeant and above wore uniforms based on No.4 dress, but lacking buttons and with the jacket — which appears to be fastened by velcro — tucked into the trousers. All UNIT members wore oval patches with 'U.N.I.T' embroidered on them on their left sleeves and NCOs wore their badges of rank on their right sleeves.[15] Sand/Beige coloured berets, similar to those worn by the Special Air Service with the black UNIT logo on a round white background as a cap badge were worn by all ranks. There was also the assault team, who wore 1960 pattern fatigues and dark berets with the same UNIT insignia.[citation needed] For UNIT's next appearance, Spearhead from Space (1970), the No.4s became uniform for all ranks, except for two radar operators seen in the opening who wear No.7s; the female officer wearing a tie with a UNIT logo printed on.[16] The No.4 style of uniform stayed throughout Doctor Who and the Silurians (1970).[40]

Christine Rawlins had a new futuristic-looking design produced for The Ambassadors of Death (1970), which features only in this story. All ranks are given khaki-coloured zip-up jackets without lapels, which are worn over tan rolled-neck sweaters. The Brigadier retained his No.4 uniform.[30]

For Inferno (1970), these changed to Denison smock camouflage uniforms.[41] From Terror of the Autons, producer Barry Letts decided to have UNIT wearing 1960 pattern fatigues, while the Brigadier, Sergeant Benton and Captain Yates also wear appropriate contemporary uniform, such as service dress and barrack dress. The UNIT patches and tan berets remain standard, except for the Brigadier and Yates, who also wore caps with their rank insignia.[28]

UNIT then had a lengthy absence from the screen. They made a small cameo appearance in The Five Doctors (1983), which sees Colonel Crichton wearing service dress and a Sergeant in barrack dress, both with the oval patches on their uniform. Captain Yates returns in the serial also wearing service dress but with no markings.[43]

For their full return in Battlefield, their look was completely updated. Their appearance in this serial is close to the real-world United Nations Peacekeeping troop outfits. UNIT are represented by a nuclear missile convoy wearing UN issued blue berets and DPM camouflage. They have a new UNIT insignia patch of a winged globe, which is worn the upper sleeves and beret. There is also a Czech engineer team wearing Czech camouflage with the same UN issued blue beret as the convoy. The Brigadier returns, wearing at different times service dress, barrack dress, and DPM while wearing a cap rather than beret.[20]

After the series was cancelled and recommissioned, UNIT first had a minor appearance in the episode "Aliens of London" (2005). In this episode, UNIT were represented by four high-ranking US military officers, wearing Army Service Uniform with real UN peacekeeper patches on the sleeves, and Navy Service Uniform. Only the female officers wore headwear, the Army officer a garrison cap, the Navy officer a white female variation combination cap.[21]

UNIT's first major appearance in the new series was in "The Christmas Invasion" in 2005. Here, a new insignia has been designed based on the Battlefield version. The troopers wear black uniforms consisting of police clothing/SAS Counter Revolutionary Warfare (CRW) Wing overalls and a red Royal Military Police beret, and equipment. Insignia is a small silver-metal UNIT parawings on a red beret and a large UNIT Parawing patch worn over the left breast pocket on the utility vest or fatigues. Commanding officers wear No. 2 service dress with UNIT insignia.[23] Variations include Captain Magambo from "Turn Left" (2008) wearing a black version of service dress with a red beret,[44] and Colonel Karim in The Sarah Jane Adventures story Death of the Doctor wearing black civilian clothes with UNIT insignia and rank epaulettes.[39] This UNIT also includes a uniform for scientists: a lab-coat with the UNIT insignia on the chest.[citation needed]

UNIT returns in the series 7 episode "The Power of Three". Their uniforms in this series are an alteration of the uniforms seen since 2005. They no longer wear ID cards on the right breast pocket, and appear to lack the logos on the arms. They wear PASGT helmets with black covering and black goggles in place of berets. They also wear riot armour for their forearms and shins, and plain black brassards on the left arm. The scientific research department that now serves as the head of UNIT consists of plainclothes civilians.[26]

The 1970 serial Inferno sees the Third Doctor visit a parallel universe. In this reality, Great Britain is a fascist republic; the Royal Family having been executed for undisclosed reasons at some point. The parallel version of the British contingent of UNIT is an SS-like state paramilitary organisation known as the Republican Security Forces (RSF), manning their version of the drilling project as a "scientific labour camp". They are armed with a mixture of Soviet and German weapons, such as the SKS rifle and the Walther P38 pistol. Their rank system uses titles based loosely on that of the British Union of Fascists: Sergeant Benton is Platoon Under Leader Benton, Brigadier Lethbridge Stewart is Brigade Leader Lethbridge Stewart, and Elizabeth Shaw, a soldier rather than a scientist in their dimension, has the rank of Section Leader (which appears to be an officer rank). Their uniforms consist of contemporary US Army olive green military fatigues for Other Ranks, tan uniforms with black rank slides on the shoulders (based on the brown shirts) for officers, and black garrison caps with white piping and an RSF cap-badge as head-dress for both. The organisation has full authority to interrogate, court-martial, and formally execute prisoners as they see fit under the "Defence of the Republic Act, 1943". By the end of the story, most of the members of the RSF are killed when a volcanic cataclysm engulfed Great Britain and left much of their world devastated.[41]

In 1984, a stage comedy titled Recall UNIT: The Great T-Bag Mystery was produced, written by Richard Franklin (Captain Yates) who reprised his character in the play. The cast also included John Levene as Benton, and the play was performed between 20 August and 24 August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.[47] Due to other commitments, Nicholas Courtney was unable to appear as the Brigadier, but pre-recorded a telephone message from Lethbridge-Stewart which was written into the plot.

Both Virgin Publishing's Missing Adventures[vague][which?][citation needed] and BBC Books' Past Doctor Adventures[vague][which?] have set stories in the UNIT era and have revealed new information about UNIT's past, present and future. The novel Business Unusual sees the Sixth Doctor assist UNIT in an investigation involving the now-retired Brigadier being held prisoner by the agents of the Nestene Consciousness, while Deep Blue sees the Fifth Doctor interact with the Third Doctor's UNIT colleagues at a time when his past self was away. Bullet Times pits the Seventh Doctor and Sarah Jane Smith against a branch of UNIT known as the 'Cortez Project', who consider any alien activity on Earth to be dangerous even if said aliens have no hostile intent, forcing the Doctor to discreetly work with a Chinese triad to help a crashed alien ship repair itself and depart.

No Future (1994) by Paul Cornell featured an intelligence section of UNIT in an alternate 1970s called Broadsword. Broadsword agents wore plain clothes and were "hand-picked to offer us lateral and non-military solutions, backed up by SAS training and sheer common sense".[49]

One story, Final Genesis (DWM #203–206), is set in a parallel universe in which humanity has made peace with the Silurians, and UNIT has become the United Races Intelligence Command.[60]

The Eighth Doctor comic strip The Flood (DWM #346–353) establishes that the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) views UNIT with some degree of contempt in the early 21st century, and deliberately does not inform them when it detects a Cyberman incursion due to this and other unspecified problems with the United Kingdom's relationship with the United Nations.[61]

UNIT has also appeared in cameo roles in unrelated comics. In at least one issue of Uncanny X-Men, where a character identified as Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart was seen briefly from behind, addressing a Sergeant-Major Benton; 2000 AD's Caballistics, Inc. strip has Lethbridge-Stewart (referred to solely by rank) appearing in several adventures as a military liaison and referring to The Web of Fear; and Hip Flask has a 22nd Century UNIT tied into the origins of the Elephantmen.[64]Marvel Comics also has two major characters called Dr Alistaire Stuart (who has claimed to know "a chap from Gallifrey") and Brigadier Alysande Stuart, Scientific Advisor and commander respectively of Britain's Weird Happenings Organisation (W.H.O.) taskforce. W.H.O. has since been disbanded and Alysande killed, but Alistaire Stuart is still a recurring character in Marvel's United Kingdom.[citation needed]

The Titan Comics Ninth Doctor series includes a storyline where the Ninth Doctor, Rose Tyler and Captain Jack Harkness work with UNIT in the mid-seventies when rival anti-alien organization 'Avalon Defence' try to undermine UNIT's reputation so that they can take over in exchange for financial benefits. The storyline concludes with UNIT nurse Tara Misha joining the TARDIS crew after she sacrifices her own reputation to expose Avalon's deceptions.

In December 2004, Big Finish released UNIT: Time Heals, the first audio drama in a UNIT spin-off series, which features a retired General Sir Alistair Lethbridge-Stewart as an advisor to a new generation of officers.[66] A preview episode (given away free with Doctor Who Magazine #351, and later available as a free download on the Big Finish website),[67]UNIT: The Coup, has Lethbridge-Stewart finally breaking decades of secrecy by informing a press conference of UNIT's true purpose as humanity's first line of defence against the unknown (although, as it turns out, the general public believe this to be a hoax).[68] The series also introduced another rival division, this time within the British government, the Internal Counter-Intelligence Service, or ICIS.[citation needed]

Following the death of Lethbridge-Stewart's actor Nicholas Courtney in 2011, in 2015, Big Finish announced a new series of UNIT audio dramas to be released in six-month intervals beginning with UNIT: Extinction in November. The series features Lethbridge-Stewart's daughter Kate Stewart in her role as Head of Scientific Research, as established in "The Power of Three" (2012), and is the first time that Big Finish have been licensed elements from the 2005 revival series from BBC Worldwide.[74]

In 1987, John Levene reprised his role as Benton for a made-for-video film entitled Wartime. Produced by Reeltime Pictures, this was the first independently made Doctor Who spin-off film and was followed by many others[clarification needed] over the next 20 years.[75] In 1997, the film was revised with voice-over dialogue provided by Nicholas Courtney in character as Lethbridge-Stewart.[76] The Brigadier himself got a made-for-video film, Downtime, which also sees appearances from UNIT and a corrupt UNIT officer named Captain Cavendish.[77]

BBV have made a trilogy of UNIT videos involving the Autons, although they feature none of the original members, with the main character being Lockwood (a codename for the otherwise nameless UNIT Operative 8954B) – an investigator with psychic powers. The trilogy introduced one of UNIT's facilities (the Warehouse) for containing the remains of alien technology; the Containment Team responsible for these facilities and preventing alien outbreaks at them; and the Internal Security Division.[78][79][80]

For the new television series, BBC created a faux website for UNIT,[82] complete with "easter eggs" that can be accessed by the reader with the passwords "bison" and "buffalo" (the latter mentioned on screen in "World War Three"). The 'public' part of the website advertises UNIT Conferences and publications relating to "extra-territorial threats", as well as press releases on the establishment of a central New York Liaison office; the press releases and publications also make reference to off-screen adventures, such as the Skaniska Incident and Jersey Tollgate Situation, with the most recent covering the events of "The Christmas Invasion" (2005) ("Alien Life Confirmed"). The Secure Login link, using the password "badwolf" (originally "bison") uncovers a 'private' section which provides UNIT point-of-view reports about various events in the 2005 series, as well as mention of missions such as The Fourth Reich and Guatemala "Big Locust" Problem. Due to the objections by the United Nations as noted above, the letters "UN" are no longer expanded to "United Nations" on the website.

The original 1963–1989 series presents conflicting evidence about when the stories featuring UNIT are meant to take place, and there has been much confusion and continuing fan debate on this subject. Initially the production team intended for the UNIT stories to take place in the near future.[citation needed] In the 1975 story Pyramids of Mars, Sarah Jane Smith explicitly states that she is "from 1980".[83] However, the 1983 story Mawdryn Undead explicitly states that the Brigadier retired from UNIT in 1976 and that Sergeant Benton left the army in 1979.[84]

A reference to this confusion appeared in the 2008 episode "The Sontaran Stratagem", where the Doctor was unsure if his time on the UNIT staff took place during the 1970s or the 1980s.[4][85] Similarly, The Sarah Jane Adventures story The Lost Boy displays a UNIT file on Sarah Jane Smith which says, "The service quickly expanded, making our presence felt in a golden period that spanned the sixties, the seventies, and, some would say, the eighties." Yet another reference occurred in "The Day of the Doctor", where Kate Stewart refers to "one of my father's incident files. Codename: Cromer. Seventies or eighties depending on the dating protocol".[1] The Cromer wording is a reference to the 1972–73 story The Three Doctors which, as well as being the first time that Doctors from different eras come together to fight a common foe[17] was the occasion where Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart, on first being transported to an alien world, likened it to the Norfolk coastal town of Cromer.[17] Kate Stewart again refers to the confusion when she describes events from Terror of the Zygons as occurring in the "'70s (or) '80s" ("The Zygon Invasion").[86]

The concept of UNIT has been generally well received by Doctor Who fans. In Andrew Cartmel's Through Time: An Unauthorised and Unofficial History of Doctor Who, the sharp contrast between the Doctor's eccentric personality and the seriousness and normality of UNIT is described by Cartmel as an "inspired stroke".[87]